Palm Hills (A & C)

Florida-based architect John Sanford has designed several new millennium Egyptian courses, including the 9-hole Little Venice layout (now the “A” nine at the 27-hole Sokhna Golf Club complex outside Ain Sokhna) and the 18-hole Madinat Makadi course situated further south on the same Red Sea coastline, near the beach resort town of Hurghada.

Sandford’s also the lead architect at the new Hacienda Bay Resort, east of Alamein on the Mediterranean coast, and his extensive local knowledge was put to good use when he teamed up with Nicklaus Design to fashion the fabulous golf facility within the sprawling Palm Hills residential development in Cairo’s western satellite city of 6th of October.

"Collaborating with Nicklaus Design has been a great opportunity and experience for Sanford Golf Design”, said Sanford. “They have provided us with access to their vast resources and insight into their unique design details, as well as bringing the Nicklaus brand name to this growing golf destination.”

Situated less than thirty kilometres from the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the course is laid out on top of a limestone landscape, requiring heavy earth moving during construction. Fairways are also routed around half a dozen man-made lakes that are interconnected by a series of small creeks.

The three nine hole circuits are named Khufu (A), Khafre (B) and Menkaure (C), with the A and C combinations regarded as the championship 18-hole course.